Octavian's Rome

Octavian's Rome (42 BC-31 BC) was the third of the Roman Republic ruled by Gaius Octavianus (the future Emperor Augustus) after the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC. Octavian ruled from Rome, and he reunited the Roman Republic after defeating Marcus Aemilius Lepidus in Spain and North Africa and against Marc Antony in the Balkans and the Near East.

History
After Caesar’s spectacular and bloody murder on the floor of the Senate-house, only the loyalty of his Legions prevented Octavian, his newly-adopted son and heir, from fading into obscurity. With their backing, he seized Rome and forged a three-way dictatorship – the Second Triumvirate – with Mark Antony and Lepidus. Together they purged the Senate, defeated Caesar’s murderers and carved up the Republic. By 42 BC, Octavian stood with one foot in Gaul and the other in Rome, ready to dispatch the final obstacles between him and his rightful legacy: his fellow dictators Marc Antony and Lepidus.

Octavian began his campaigns with a war against Gaul, as the Gauls invaded the lands of his Belgae allies. He helped the Belgae in their conquest of northern Gaul, and he also fought against Lepidus to the south. He conquered much of Hispania from Lepidus while also conquering Sicily from Sextus Pompeius and the remnants of the late Pompey the Great's army. Octavian defeated his enemies, and in 31 BC he won the Battle of Actium against Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Ptolemaic Egypt, and Antony and Cleopatra killed themselves in Alexandria. The battle of Actium let Octavian conquer all of Antony's lands plus Egypt, creating the province of Aegyptus. Rome now included most of France, Italy, the Balkans, Asia Minor, the Levant, Egypt, North Africa, and Spain, and it was reunified before becoming the Roman Empire four years after the civil war ended.